Peterborough United only needed 10 men to clinch their first EFL Trophy success

The Blues’ are long odds-on favourites. They’ve won on their last three trips to Wembley, most recently the 2011 League Cup Final against Arsenal. Both clubs are also chasing a third EFL Trophy win which would match the record of Bristol City, the only club so far to have won the competition three times.

Posh will of course be defending a 100% winning record at the national stadium so cheer yourselves up by remembering four memorable days in the run-up to the big day.

Today it's the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final of 2014 which Posh won despite playing with 10 men for the final quarter…

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Chesterfield 1, Posh 3.

Attendance: 35,663.

League One promotion-chasers Posh took the lead in the seventh minute through on-loan midfielder Josh McQuoid following a corner, but were largely outplayed by a side going well in League Two under their manager Paul Cook.

Centre-back Shaun Brisley headed home another corner for 2-0 seven minutes before the break, but Posh were rocked by a Chesterfield goal for prolific marksman Eoin Doyle on 53 minutes and a straight red card for Joe Newell 15 minutes later. The Academy graduate aimed a petulant kick at current Ipswich Town midfielder Sam Morsy.

But Posh hung on and broke away to win a penalty after a foul on marauding right-back Mark Little. Britt Assombalonga tucked it away and with only seven minutes to go the celebrations could start.

Brisley spoke to the Posh media team about his final ahead of last season’s EFL Trophy final.

Brisley said: “I had gone so long without scoring and we had such good delivery into the box back then. I remember a fan telling me there was a YouTube video of all the goals I had scored that had been disallowed. I think I had goals that were disallowed for fouls that didn’t even concern me. I had also hit the woodwork so I was beginning to think it was never going to happen for me, so to then score at Wembley was a brilliant feeling and a moment that I won’t ever forget.

“I roomed with Mark Little the night before and he said to me with great certainty ‘you are going to score tomorrow and when you do score, I am going to run over and spear you in the celebrations’ and do you know what, Mark can predict the future and he kept his promise. He was probably the first player to get near me after I ran off in a random direction and I was soon on the floor because of him!

“We faced quite a few challenges because Chesterfield were a really good side. They had a lot of talented players and they caused us problems, but we scored all of our goals from set-pieces if I recall and we had worked on that a lot.

“When Joe (Newell) got sent-off it became a long afternoon, but we got the job done and it was a really special day. There are not many players that will be able to say they scored at Wembley and lifted a trophy, but that is one thing that I can always tell people.

"We enjoyed the moment and we enjoyed the celebrations, but we couldn’t let those celebrations go on too long because we had a league game a few days later. When I look back now, it was a wonderful achievement for everyone connected with the football club. The fans had a great day out at Wembley and when you get to Wembley, the focus is on making sure you leave there a winner.”

NOTE: It was a first regular season trophy Posh had won in 40 years following the 1973-74 Fourth Division title win.

Posh: Olejnik, Little, Knight-Percival, Brisley (sub Alcock), Bostwick; Swanson, McCann (sub Payne), Rowe, Newell; McQuoid (sub Isgrove), Assombalonga.